Pedrinho, a Brazilian football player of Moscow club “Lokomotiv”, was banned from playing under his shortened name. The management of the club, as the midfielder himself told, explained to him that his name would be perceived "not very well" in Russia.
Insider writes about it.
The day before, a match between "Lokomotiv" and "Krasnodar" took place in Moscow. During the broadcast, the commentator of the TV channel "Match TV" Serhii Durasov told a colleague that the club asks not to call the footballer Pedrinho, but to pronounce his name as it is written on his uniform — Pedro Gabriel.
"Pedrinho was at the interview during the break. And this is the last time I personally call him Pedrinho. Because the club asked me. They [people in the club] say that this initiative even came from some football players: "Letʼs have “Pedro” in our team. Letʼs not have “Pedrinho” in our team," the commentator noted.
After the match, journalists asked the football player himself about it. He spoke about a direct ban from the clubʼs management. "I wanted the shirt to say “Pedrinho”, but they said it wasnʼt very good. Then they wrote "Pedro Gabriel". The management explained that "Pedrinho" is like a gay gay here," explained the football player.
The playerʼs full name is Pedro Gabriel Pereira Lopez, but Brazilian players (because their names are very long) often take nicknames, which are written on the back of their shirts. For example, the real name of the legendary Pele is Edson Arantis do Nascimento.